The BBC Claims ‘Sketchy’ Evidence of PA Terror Rewards

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A BBC screenshot.

In January 2007, the BBC News website published a backgrounder titled “Analysis: Palestinian suicide attacks.” More than a decade later, that item (which was apparently prompted by a terror attack in Eilat) is still available online. This means that audiences still encounter BBC content that tells them:

Israel has accused the Palestinian Authority of funding some suicide attacks and rewarding the families of attackers. Evidence for this has been sketchy. [emphasis added]

Evidence of the Palestinian Authority (PA)’s financial rewards to the families of terrorists was also abundant in 2007, and payments to terrorists in Israeli prisons and their families were enshrined in PA legislation more than two years before that story was published.

“He [Netanyahu] was referring to a Palestinian Martyrs’ fund. It pays pensions to people it regards as victims of the occupation, including the families of individuals who have been killed attacking Israelis. There is also a fund to support Palestinians who have been imprisoned by Israel. The Palestinians have compared the payments to the salaries Israel pays to soldiers.” [emphasis added]

However long ago our online content was first published, if it’s still available, editorial complaints may legitimately be made regarding it.

Obviously then, the inaccurate and misleading claim that there is only “sketchy” evidence of Palestinian Authority financing of and rewards for terrorists in that 2007 piece needs to be corrected.

Clearly, too, BBC audiences’ understanding of the frequently recurring topic of Palestinian terrorism would benefit from some accurate, impartial and comprehensive coverage of this much-neglected issue.

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